Sylvester Stallone at the World Premiere of The Expendables 3 © Joe Alvarez
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Sylvester Stallone ensured the London premiere for The Expendables 3 was a family affair this evening, with wife Jennifer Flavin and their three daughters by his side.

And even though their 68-year-old father threatened to steal everyone’s gaze, daughters Sophia, Sistene, and Scarlet demonstrated they were perfectly comfortable in front of press’ cameras themselves.

“They’re just here to see Kellan -Lutz-. Can you blame them?” he said jokingly.

Earlier in the day, the star told how he suffered one of his worst ever injuries during the film for the upcoming third installment in the explosive ensemble series.

He said: “I grade the quality of a film by the intensity of the injuries. When I shot Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, I never got hurt.

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Through Rambo and The Expendables, I break my neck and my spine and I dislocate both shoulders. 

“In this one here, I end up really taking a fall on my back and had some metal put in there, so if you hear any squeaking, it’s not my shoes but my back. But I’m getting better.”

Also appearing at the premiere were co-stars Wesley Snipes, Jason Statham and Kellan Lutz.

Statham, who returns as Barney’s right-hand man Lee Christmas, said the massive cast amps up the third film from the previous installments. 

“The cast speaks for itself. Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, the list goes on,” he said. “It’s hard to put that all on screen but Sly has a unique way of doing it.” 

The third film, with the tagline “New team, new attitude, new film”, sees the Expendables passing the torch on to a new generation of action stars including

Twilight hunk Lutz, boxing champion Victor Ortiz and MMA -mixed martial arts- fighter Ronda Rousy.

Lutz, best known for playing vampire Emmett Cullen in the Twilight films, said: “Working with all the heroes you grew up watching, I loved it. Sly really took me under his wing and said, ‘Just have fun’.” 

Statham added of the newcomers: “These are the best fighters in the world – that’s part of the requirement to get a job with Sly.”

Snipes, who got the biggest cheers for making his big-screen comeback in this film from the crowd, said making it was a “blast”. And he joked about his character Doc Death having a love scene in the next movie.

“But not with the Expendables though – that would be too kinky,” he added.

The Expendables 3 opens in the UK on 14th August.